I’m super excited to share that I’m back at vending! I kicked it off last Friday at the Space’s Newbury Street First Friday Event, and it was so much fun. I’m definitely going to sign up for future First Fridays with them.

I’ve signed up for the Leominster Marketplace for the season and plan to be there every 2nd Saturday of the month. I also signed up for the Westminster Cracker Festival, which is at the end of October. I’m hoping to add a few more to the list, so if you’re interested you should definitely check out the “Events” page!

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A few years ago, I made a pin cushion out of a plastic dinosaur. It was fun, and it quickly became my most-used pin cushion. I made an extra and put it in the shop, and since then have wanted to add more. So I (finally) did!

As an aside: most people know that it takes me AGES to finish projects for them. Like, YEARS. Like, HALF A DECADE. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like to take on custom orders for my shop. But even my own projects take me forever, so at least I’m consistent?

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Last year, I had an unadvertised promotion where I sent mini pouches out with some orders. I wanted to see if it drove sales, but I had no way to measure this information.

So I dove into 2018 with a sales-measuring plan. I had a sale every week from January through March, aka Quarter 1. Some I advertised, some I didn’t. Some were for specific shop sections, some offered free shipping, and some had a minimum item requirement. And this is what I learned:

1) Sharing product images or sales details on social media drove people to the shop, but most sales still came from people browsing Etsy.

2) Sales requiring a purchase of 2+ items yielded more sales of 2+ items, but not significantly.

4) Sales for specific sections of the shop didn’t seem to yield more sales to those sections.

5) Just running a sale, ANY sale, increased traffic to my shop. I think it’s Etsy sale algorithm, where they’ll actually advertise sales and let you pick if you’re looking for free shipping.

Moving forward: Etsy is pushing free shipping. They want sellers to offer it, even when the sellers don’t think it is best for their shop. So Q2 is going to focus on shipping. I’m starting with fixed $2 domestic /$10 international shipping fees and have raised some prices in the shop to offset the price difference. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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I’m super excited to announce the launch of Sugar City– a collection made from my very own fabric designs! I’ve been working on this for about a year; playing with my process and deciding my favorite designs so far. My husband got me the Spoonflower Handbook for Christmas last year, and my sister-in-law & her husband got me the Spoonflower Starter Kit for Christmas this year, which also includes a color guide and fabric samples. These resources have been immensely helpful in my journey and I highly recommend them to anyone who has an idea but doesn’t know quite how to start. Thank you, Norm, Jess, and Doug!

I work primarily with paper, scan the images into the computer, and change the background color to match the color guide. I leave the main image untouched (usually) and in some cases you can see the imperfections in the paper. I think it’s really neat!

To celebrate, all Sugar City bags are 20% off this week! Discount applied automatically.

(“Gear Art.” I made this with a Spirograph)

(“Dancing Planet” was originally called “Hula Hoopin’ Saturn” but I felt like it didn’t have enough rings.)

(“Judy Meets the Angler” is taken right from my second Tragic Whale Story: Louis’s New Friend)

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Kicking off the new year with a new addition to the shop: little pins! I got a message via Etsy not too long ago asking how difficult it would be to take the chain off of my sweater pins to wear them as separate pins. It’s SUPER easy, but it got me thinking that maybe I should offer stand-alone pins? So I’m giving them a go.

I’ve been making earrings out of fishing lures for years. My favorites are the Acme Phoebe fish because they have a great shape and come in two different sizes. Whenever I spot them on sale, I grab them to make earrings. I put them away in a little tackle organizer and say, “Someday, I’ll add these to the shop.” I haven’t yet because I’ve always wanted my focus to be bags. But since adding coasters two years ago and sweater pins last yes, I thought maybe it was time to give earrings a go.

I specifically ordered stainless steel earring hooks because I want them to be more appealing to more people. My ears are happy with them so I know other people with sensitive ears will be happy with them, too.

I also made stud earrings with wooden cat buttons, at the request of my friend. I have no idea what the posts are made out of, so I only made a few. I have my own pair that I’ve been wearing around to test and they don’t bother my ears. But if I think I’m going to add more to the shop, I will definitely take the time to ensure that the posts I’m using are hypoallergenic.

Etsy has a new “Sale” feature where you can create a sale but skip the coupon code, which is wonderful because coupon codes can be confusing for some shoppers. This is also how they’re alerting Etsy shoppers who are browsing around that there is a sale in your shop. You can even just search through sales.

I was originally confused at how they knew shops were having sales when they introduced this feature. I was also confused as to how it worked for me, the shop owner, and how I could create my own. But it’s Friday the 13th, in October, and it seemed like a great day for a 3-day flash sale! And what better time to learn about the new “Sale” feature than now!

I really like how it shows, right on the shop home page, the sale prices. There is no guessing. There is no math involved. There is no waiting until you put things in your cart and enter a code to see what the final total will be. It’s all right there for you and your shoppers.

You can even pick which sections you want in the sale. How neat is that?! I picked everything, but I’m excited to have a pencil case sale during back to school and a sale sale to make room for new and updated inventory.